Hedge fund manager leaves high-paying job to be an artist and more banking reads

The big game is just beginning, and here\’s your Thursday banking roundup: Risk officers get more clout at banks, ex-KPMG partner speaks out on insider trading right before he goes to jail, more banks see layoffs and one hedge-fund manager turns to art.

Plunge: Barclays PLC
shares fell 6% in early trading the day after the New York Attorney General accused the bank of favoring high-frequency traders over regular investors. Eric Schneiderman filed civil charges on Wednesday against Barclays, alleging the bank misrepresented the number of high-frequency traders in its private-trading platform, known as a dark pool. The Attorney General also accused the British bank of not protecting investors from predatory trading behavior. \”The integrity of the markets is a top priority of Barclays,\” the bank said in a statement. Expect more charges to come, sources tell banking roundup.

More clout: Risk officers within banks have a lot more influence now than they did before the financial crisis. The risk-management group at many of the major Wall Street banks now controls the outcome of product and strategy decisions, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Risk officers are gaining power and multiplying as financial institutions bend to pressure from regulators to make their operations safer and simpler following the financial crisis that began in 2008.

Scott London

Big mistake: Former KPMG Partner Scott London says passing on insider trading tips to his friend was a selfish thing to do. London, speaking to accountants via a webcast this week, pled guilty to passing on sensitive information about KPMG’s clients. The former accountant is set to report to prison on July 18 to serve a 14-month term. \”I screwed up, I made a mistake, I\’ll live with that mistake for the rest of my life,\” said London.

Layoffs: Bank of America Corp.
is laying off 540 employees in Charlotte, N.C. in its troubled mortgage unit. This comes after similar cuts in southern California, New York, Florida and the Dallas area.

Moving on: Deutsche Bank AG
has poached two bankers from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
to strengthen its corporate banking business, Reuters reports. Stefan James will join as the head of corporate banking coverage for North America, based in Chicago. Tim King will also join Deutsche Bank as a head of corporate banking coverage for the consumer sector, also in Chicago.

For the love of art: Hedge fund manager Nelson Saiers is fed up with making tons of money and is giving it up to live the life of an artist, Bloomberg reports. Saiers, who was CIO of Saiers Capital LLC, will continue as an adviser to the firm but will spend the majority of time producing art with a focus on mathematical relationships, according to a website showing his work of mostly paintings.

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